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Feb 21, 2025 By Mark Redfern Photography by Peter Joseph Smith

Irish five-piece Fontaines D.C. released a new album, Romance, last August via XL. Now they have released a brand new single, “It’s Amazing to Be Young,” via a cinematic seven-and-a-half-minute music video. The song itself is only three-and-a-half minutes long, but the video also features moments for dialogue and plot. Watch it below, followed by the band’s upcoming tour dates. Also below is the audio-only YouTube video for the song.

As he did Romance, James Ford produced “It’s Amazing to Be Young.” The song will be released on limited edition 7-inch vinyl featuring the new B-side “Before You I Just Forget.”

Fontaines D.C. features Grian Chatten (vocals), Carlos O’Connell (guitar), Conor Curley (guitar), Conor Deegan (bass), and Tom Coll (drums).

Deegan had this to say about the new song in a press release: “‘It’s Amazing to Be Young’ is a song that was written in the presence of a newborn child—Carlos’ child. It sounded more like a lullaby or a music box then, but with the same lyric—‘it’s amazing to be young.’ The feeling of hope a child can give is profound and moving, especially for young men like us. That sense of wanting to create a world for them to grow up in happily. It’s a feeling that fights against the cynicism that can often overtake us in the modern world. So we wanted to declare which side we were on—it really is amazing to be young. We are still free, and want to make that feeling spread. We want to protect it for the others around us, and maybe in doing that, can also help protect it for ourselves.”

Director Luna Carmoon had this to say about making the new video: “I love this new track—it’s one of my favorites Fontaines have done and I love that I got to complete the trilogy of videos for it. It was all natural and kind of a surprise that the three videos came together. I’ve got to work with such a beautiful team and was really given the space and breath to create the worlds that automatically came to me when hearing the music. I feel like we’re living in this weird time where romantic love is being pushed to the side, and sex and love is unvirtuous and no longer what people want to see. I don’t believe that at all. I love that these two people have fallen in love with themselves, and I wanted to see them fall in love with each other. I planted the seed after I did the carjitsu video (‘In the Modern World’) and then I had a couple of days to write the video for ‘It’s Amazing to Be Young.’ There are a lot of odes to Santa Sangre it. It also reminds me of my first short film Shagbands.”

Romance was #4 on our Top 100 Albums of 2024 list.

Fontaines D.C. are interviewed about Romance in our current print issue (Issue 73). Check out our in-depth interview and photo shoot with the band by buying the issue directly from us.

Click here to buy the print version of the issue.

Click here to buy the digital version of the issue.

Previously the band shared Romance’s first single, “Starburster,” via a music video. “Starburster” was #1 on our Songs of the Week list. Then they shared its second single, “Favourite,” via a self-directed video. It was also one of our Songs of the Week. The album’s third single, “Here’s the Thing,” was again #1 on our Songs of the Week list. Then they shared its fourth single, “In the Modern World,” via a music video. It also landed on Songs of the Week.

They also performed “Starburster” on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.

Romance is the band’s fourth album, the follow-up to 2022’s acclaimed Skinty Fia (which was #1 on both the UK and Irish album charts), 2020’s Grammy-nominated A Hero’s Death, and 2019’s Mercury Prize-nominated Dogrel. It finds them working with producer James Ford for the first time.

The band was formed in Dublin but is now based in London. Ideas for the new album started to form while they were touring the U.S. and Mexico with Arctic Monkeys. Then the band members went their separate ways for a while, before reconvening for a three weeks of pre-production in a North London studio and one month of recording in a chateau near Paris.

In 2023 Chatten released his debut solo album, Chaos For the Fly. Read our interview with him about it here.

Fontaines D.C. 2025 North American Tour Dates:

Feb 21 - Osaka, Japan - Gorilla Hall Osaka
Feb 23 - Tokyo, Japan - Toyosu PIT
Feb 27 - Red Hill, Australia - Perth Fest
Mar 1 - Brisbane, Australia - Riverstage Brisbane
Mar 2 - Wollongong, Australia - Yours & Owls Festival
Mar 6 - Sydney, Australia - Opera House Forecourt (SOLD OUT)
Mar 8 - Melbourne, Australia - Palace Foreshore (SOLD OUT)
Mar 9 - Meredith, Australia - Golden Plains Festival
Mar 10 - Melbourne, Australia - Palace Foreshore
Mar 12 - Auckland, New Zealand - Spark Arena
Mar 18 - Ciudad De México, Mexico - Pabellón Oeste
Mar 21 - Santiago, Chile - Lollapalooza Chile
Mar 23 – Buenos Aires, Argentina - Lollapalooza Argentina
Mar 24 – Buenos Aires, Argentina - Niceto Club (SOLD OUT)
March 26 – Sao Paulo, Brazil – Audio Club
Mar 28 - São Paulo, Brazil - Lollapalooza Brazil
Mar 30 - Bogotá, Colombia - Festival Estéreo Picnic
April 17 - Seattle, WA - Showbox SoDo (SOLD OUT)
April 18 - Vancouver, BC - Commodore Ballroom (SOLD OUT)
April 19 - Portland, OR - Roseland Theater (SOLD OUT)
April 21 - Salt Lake City, UT - The Union
April 22 - Denver, CO - Mission Ballroom
April 24 - Dallas, TX - The Factory in Deep Ellum
April 25 - Houston, TX - White Oak Music Hall (Downstairs) (SOLD OUT)
April 26 - Austin, TX - Stubb’s Waller Creek Amphitheater (SOLD OUT)
April 28 - New Orleans, LA - Civic Theatre (SOLD OUT)
April 29 - Atlanta, GA - The Eastern (SOLD OUT)
April 30 - Nashville, TN - Marathon Music Works (SOLD OUT)
May 2 - Louisville, KY - Mercury Ballroom (SOLD OUT)
May 3 - Raleigh, NC - The Ritz (SOLD OUT)
May 4 - Columbus, OH – Kemba Live!
May 6 - Indianapolis, IN - The Vogue
May 7 - Detroit, MI – The Fillmore
May 8 - Cleveland, OH - Agora Ballroon
May 10 - Washington, DC - The Anthem
May 11 - Norfolk, VA - The NorVa (SOLD OUT)
May 13 - Albany, NY - Empire Live (SOLD OUT)
May 14 - New Haven, CT - College Street Music Hall (SOLD OUT)
May 16 - New York, NY - Hammerstein Ballroom (SOLD OUT)
May 17 - New York, NY - Hammerstein Ballroom (SOLD OUT)
May 18 - New York, NY - Hammerstein Ballroom
June 7 – Barcelona, Spain – Primavera Sound
June 10 – Arles, France - Theatre Antique (SOLD OUT)
June 12 – Porto, Portugal – Primavera Sound
June 14 – Hradec Králové, Czechia – Rock For People
June 17 - Bologna, Italy - Sequoie Music Park (SOLD OUT)
June 18 - Rome, Italy - Rock in Roma
June 19 - Milan, Italy - Unaltrofestival
June 21 - Budapest, Hungary - Barba Negra
June 23 - Zagreb, Croatia - INmusic Festival
June 25 - Belgrade, Serbia - Luka Beograd
June 27 - Athens, Greece - Release Festival
June 29 - Istanbul, Turkey - KüçükÇiftlik Park
July 2 - Roskilde, Denmark - Roskilde Festival
July 3 – Werchter, Belgium – Rock Werchter
July 5 - London, UK - Finsbury Park (SOLD OUT)
July 6 – Herouville Saint-Clair, France – Beauregard Festival
July 8 - Luxembourg, Luxembourg - Neumënster Abbey (SOLD OUT)
July 9 - Aix-les-Bains, France - Festival Musilac
July 11 - Trencin, Slovakia - Pohoda Festival
July 12 - Glasgow, UK - TRNSMT Festival
July 13 - Newcastle, UK - Exhibition Park (SOLD OUT)
July 30 - Cardiff, UK - Cardiff Castle (SOLD OUT)
August 1 - Waterford, Ireland - All Together Now Festival
August 3 - Katowice, Poland – OFF Festival
August 4 - Leipzig, Germany - Parkbühne im Clara Zetkin Park
August 5 - Berlin, Germany - Zitadelle Spandau
August 7 – Gothenburg, Sweden, Way Out West
August 8 – Oslo, Norway, Oya
August 8-10 – Helsinki, Finland – Flow Festival
August 15 - Manchester, UK - Wythenshawe Park (SOLD OUT)
August 15-17 – Biddinghuizen, Netherlands – Lowlands Festival
August 19 - Bonn, Germany - Kunst!Rasen
August 20 - Stuttgart, Germany - BÜRGER Freilichtbühne Killesberg
August 21 - Graz, Austria - Freiluftarena B
August 23 – Chateau Gontier, France – V and B Fest
August 24 – Paris, France – Rock en Seine

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